I was pleasantly surprised by the quality of food and the re-introduction of arts and crafts activities as part of the Celebrity Life activities. There were only four ports on this 15 night cruise but the many sea days were easily passed with participation in different lectures, fitness classes, Celebrity Life activities and enjoying the food on-board the ship.
The ports were Dutch Harbor (Alaska), Otaru, Hakodate and Tokyo with the cruise docking in Yokohama on the last day.
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| Sailing away from Vancouver |
Dutch Harbor, Alaska
This town of about 4000 people did their best to provide cruise ship passengers (and crew) with the best possible experience in their small town.
Complimentary school buses were provided to shuttle passengers to/from the port to the Safeway parking lot. The Safeway is located within a so-called downtown area with the Grand Aleutian Hotel, shops and museums within walking distance. The school bus takes approximately 10 minutes to shuttle between the port and Safeway, but you could also walk along the shoulder of the road for 45 minutes if you didn't feel like waiting for the school bus.
The landscape and scenery reminded me of New Zealand and the Maritime provinces of Canada, it was really quite beautiful!
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| Photo taken on our walk back to the ship |
Otaru, Japan
The ship docked at Katsunai Wharf. An information booth manned with volunteers and helpful maps provided assistance to those with questions. A few souvenir booths and a free WiFi area were set up right outside the ship as well.
Using the map we got at the information booth it took us about 15 minutes of walking from the port to get to the Sakaimachidori Shopping Street. There were plenty of souvenir shops, restaurants and also the Music Box Museum situated on this popular street. We spent hours going inside the different shops selling specialty Hokaido snacks (like dried squid and confectionary like biscuits or ice-cream). There were so many samples provided inside these shops that I can honestly say Otaru is the city to go to if you want to sample the food before making a purchase.
We went inside the Music Box Museum (free admission) which was 3 levels high. There were hundreds of varieties of music boxes ranging in style from stuffed animals to plastic sushi that you could buy.
A 5 minute walk from the end of Sakaimachidori Street is Otaru Canal; it is Otaru's most visited tourist destination and also a very popular photo spot. We went up the "lighthouse-style" building on Denuki-koji where we were able to get a good birds' eye view of Otaru Canal from the platform balcony.
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| View of the canal from the "lighthouse-style" building |
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| Photo of the canal from the street |
Hakodate, Japan
The ship docked at Minato-cho Wharf and complimentary shuttles were provided to/from the downtown area. It takes approximately 20 minutes to get from the pier to JR Hakodate Station.
We explored the Motomachi/Ekimae area just like we did two years ago when the Celebrity Millennium docked in Hakodate. This included the Hakodate Morning Market, the Kanemori Red Brick Warehouse, Hachiman-zaka slope and Motomachi Park. All the places we visited are walk-able from the shuttle drop-off location at JR Hakodate Station.
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| Top of the Hachiman-zaka slope |
Tokyo, Japan
The ship docked at Oi Pier and complimentary shuttles were provided to/from Shinagawa Metro Station. Shuttles would depart every 15 minutes and the ride was about 10 minutes long.
From Shinagawa Metro Station we took a train to Asakusa Station. We walked to Kamimarimon Gate, explored the sights/sounds of Nakamise Dori and saw Sensoji Temple. On Nakamise Dori we bought a mixed fruit flavoured shaved ice and it was the softest/flakiest shaved ice I had ever eaten (very delicious!).
When we were done exploring Asakusa we took the train to Odaiba (an artificial, man-made island in Tokyo). We took pictures of the Rainbow Bridge from the wooden deck in front of Aquacity Odaiba and Decks. We also took pictures of the imitation Statue of Liberty.
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| The imitation Statue of Liberty (foreground) and Rainbow Bridge (background) |
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| Who would have thought my first Lucha Libre experience would be in Japan? |
Disembarking the ship
After disembarking the ship we had planned a 5 night stay in Kyoto where we would explore the surrounding cities of Osaka and Nara as well (read about it here).
